Night Terrors
by TheAnimeWriterLover
Summary: Caesar had a rougher than usual night terror relating to his near death. Joseph is a bit at a loss, but otherwise tries to comfort his husband.


**_Prompt: "It's alright. I'm right here."_**

The first thing that Caesar noticed was that he was back at _that_ place. The hotel where the Pillar Men have taken residence. It was as broken down as he remembered it to be. The few destroyed furniture were in the corners, the broken glass on the floor that he felt under his feet, and the dust in the air that made him cough. Then there was the darkness. His eyes barely adjusted to his surroundings, no matter how long he was there.

His heart hammered so hard that it was the only thing he could hear.

Did that mean that Wamuu was here as well? Without a second to lose, Caesar concentrated on bringing out his Hamon to create bubbles. But no matter how much he tried, nothing happened. Not when he slapped his palms together. Not when he rubbed them together. Not even the familiar electric feeling was there.

No, this couldn't be. Has he lost the ability? His breathing grew uneven with panic. In addition of his heart racing, it made his head spin in circles. He grabbed his head in hopes to steady it, but it didn't help one bit. Caesar took a step back and felt his back brush against a wall. Turning sharply on his heels, he moved away only for it to happen again. _This isn't right_, his mind told him. The place, as he remembered it, wasn't small by any means. And yet, every time he turned and moved, it seemed like he continued to run into the same problem.

He stretched his arms to feel his surroundings. It barely took a full arm length before he felt hard surface under his fingers. The wall in front of him felt smooth, clean even. The unpleasant air of dust seemed to have evaporated out of existence. When he moved his hands up, they only met with empty air. For a moment, Caesar just stood there in the middle. He took a few deep breathes to calm down. Okay, he wasn't at the hotel anymore. He didn't know _where_ he was exactly, but at least it wasn't there. Furthermore, Wamuu wasn't there.

Something tiny fell on his head. He brought his hand up to take the object out of his hair and held it between his thumb and forefinger. Turning it between the fingers, he concluded that it was misshaped but smooth. Then, another tiny one fell, followed by another, only slightly bigger. Caesar turned his green eyes upwards. For the first time, he saw light. The ceiling on top of him began to crack. One long crack pushed its way through the hard material, as if it was nothing more than a piece of paper. The blond watched as it took sharp turns, soon taking on the shape of a cross. A startled cry came out of him as he watched the ceiling give away and fell on him.

-ooOOoo-

Joseph was having a pleasant enough dream. Nothing too memorable or important enough to mention. It was just one of those nights where one slept deep and in no time morning came. So, imagine how surprised he was when he got woken up by a scream on his left side. The tall British almost fell right off the bed in shock. His head buzzed and spun from the sudden awakening. So much so that he could barely make out what was up and down. A raised hand rubbed the back of his head, before once more he jumped in shock as the next scream erupted to his side. Turning over, his green eyes widened at the sight of his husband.

Caesar thrashed about. Sweat dragged down his fair skin. The handsome face twisted as eyebrows knitted together and the bottom lip caught in between the teeth, hard enough that it drew a bit of blood. The knuckles turned white at the deathlike grip the Italian had on the blanket. It was the next scream that snapped him out of his state.

"Caesar! _Caesar_! Wake up, damnit."

Joseph yelled at his husband. His hands were on Caesar's shoulders, shaking him gently at first. When that didn't work, he tried harder. A fist shot forward, to which the brunette dodged. Green eyes looked down with a mixture of fear and worry.

"Come on, you need to wake up."

He muttered. For a moment, there was a temptation of slapping the man below him a few times, but it he shook it off not a moment later. That was not the way to wake someone up from a nightmare, especially when they were sending fists flying everywhere. This left him doing the same thing as he did moments ago.

"_Caesar_"

Joseph all but roared with desperation as he once more shook the other. A sharp gasp escaped Caesar. The blonde's pair of eyes snapped open, as they looked about in search of something. The breathing didn't slow down, but instead seemed to increase. When their eyes locked, the alertness began to disappear and be replaced with recognition. The lips moved to form words, but nothing came out. Though, Joseph could kind of tell that they were trying to say his name.

The giant rolled onto his empty side of the bed, bringing his scared husband into his arms. He ran his fingers through the blond hair as he rocked them. Words of comfort left his lips, breathing right into the other's ear.

"Sh, it's okay, you're safe. I'm right here. I got you. _Breath_."

Caesar trembled in Joseph's arms, doing his best to curl into the warm and safe hold. His arms circled around the giant's waist, as he drew the other closer to him to the point there was no air in between them. The British man didn't say anything about that. He continued his actions and planted a reassuring kiss into the hair. It took time, but the breathing finally began to slow down. With it so did the trembling and the tight grip loosened a bit. Still, the blond refused to remove himself from his current position.

Joseph rubbed Caesar's back. He'd be lying if he said that neither of the two experienced nightmares after their encounter with the Pillar Men. Though, there were two issues. The first being that they were both heavy sleepers, so waking the other up was near impossible. Second, they never escalated to whatever this was. This bothered the dark headed man, a lot. What was he supposed to do about this situation? The only thing that came to his mind was their little tradition of when they had night terrors. It consisted of drinking some hot chocolate, with lots of cuddles before returning to bed.

Without a word, Joseph shuffled to the edge of their bed. Caesar clenched onto him tighter and gave out a weak 'no'. The former shushed him gently. He wrapped Caesar in their blanket like a burrito and gathered him up in his arms with little to no effort. The blond man grumbled at the restriction, but otherwise didn't protest. Instead, he rested his head on the other man's shoulder and stayed quiet.

The British man made his way down the stairs to their living room where he placed the tired blond on the sofa.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to the kitchen."

Joseph reassured Caesar, who gave a small nod of acknowledgement. His tired green eyes watched the hulking figure stalk away. Joseph first turned on the tiny lamp in the living room before heading into the open kitchen to repeat the action. The two flinched at the sudden light that strained their eyes, but neither paid attention to it for too long. Sounds of the kettle being turned on and boiling the water filled the silence. A pair of medium sized cups were pulled out along with a hot chocolate formula, milk and tiny marshmallows. With practiced ease, Joseph placed a few teaspoons of the dark powder into the cups before grabbing the jug of milk. Something that only the Italian drank his hot chocolate with. In no time, the drinks were finished with a few mismatched coloured tiny marshmallows flowed about at the top. Turning the kitchen light off, Joseph returned to Caesar's side and handed to him his drink.

Caesar muttered with annoyance as he wrestled a bit through the tight blanket. Once one arm got freed, he took the cup with a small nod of appreciation. Joseph frowned at the lack of responds, but he didn't make a point to fuss over it. Instead, he wrapped one arm around the Italian and brought him back into a hug. The older man breathed out through his nose, closed his eyes and snuggled into the warm and safe hold.

For the next while, they stayed in that position. Silent, drinking their hot chocolates but otherwise finally calm and content.


End file.
